MARKETING   |   POSTED ON 16.03.2016

Every start-up needs to start with clear communication throughout their offering; from website content, to social media posting and marketing material. To kick things off you need to create your buyer personas; to do that you need to get to know your customers and to do that you need to undertake some market research, ask some questions.

Here Liquid runs through the top questions to ask to really get to know your customers and what makes them tick so you can align your sales funnel to them.

Knowing the basics

Firstly, consider the demographics and the personal traits that make up your customers; this will help to know the type of people they are and how to communicate with them.

01. What gender do they identify with?
02. What’s their age?
03. Where do they live? City? Regional?
04. What stage of life are they in? School leaver? Pre-retirement? Retired?
05. Are they in a relationship? Single?
06. Do they have children full-time? Part-time?
07. What’s the highest level of education they have completed?
08. What’s their occupation?
09. Where do they work? Office? From home?
10. How much do they earn and how much of that do they spend?

Diagnosing Pain

Identifying your customers’ pain points will give you a lot of information about them as well as pinpointing the sales barriers you will need to overcome to make sales, and the problem you have the potential to solve.

01. What are their core values?
02. What is of importance to them?
03. What are their needs?
04. What are their concerns?
05. What makes them frustrated?
06. What do they want and not want from you?
07. What do they appreciate and not appreciate?
08. What are their challenges?
09. Are they time-poor/money-poor, time-poor/money-rich, time-rich/money-poor or time-rich/money rich?
10. Are they most focused on price, purpose or value?
11. Do they lead or follow?
12. Do they display caution or take risks?

Making contact

Now you’re at the point where you can identify the ways to actually reach out and make contact with your customers. These questions will help to determine what to use in your marketing campaigns.

01. Who do they hang out with?
02. Where do they hang out?
03. Who do they look up to and whose opinion do they respect?
04. Who has influence on their purchasing decision?
05. What are their interests and hobbies?
06. What do they read – blogs, websites, newspapers, magazines, books?
07. What YouTube channels, radio and television do they pay attention to?
08. What events do they attend?
09. Where do they go?
10. What social media do they use and which influencers do they engage with?
11. What brands do they use and which are they loyal to?

33 questions and your start-up is well on its way to establishing your buyer personas and then the best way to market to them. For more information on marketing for start-ups or creating buyer personas, contact your brand agency Liquid Creativity, your local branding specialist.